Waiting for a Hero

Chris looked at Emmy as she knelt in front of the television and took the DVD out and put it away. Chris looked over his shoulder when he heard dishes clanging together and then smiled at Emmy as she browsed her DVD collection for another movie.

"How old is she?" he asked curiously and Emmy looked at him and then the kitchen as she said,

"She’ll be thirteen this summer." Chris’s eyes widened. Emmy didn’t look old enough to have a thirteen year-old. He nodded slowly and Emmy shifted to her rear from her knees as she sighed, "I can’t believe I’d had her for over a year." Chris frowned in confusion and canted his head to the side. Emmy must have seen the confusion on his face and she giggled lightly, smiling bright as she explained, "I’m her foster mother. It’s my first year as a foster parent so they gave me one kid for a little while." Chris’s eyes widened and his brow rose in surprise.

"Oh!" he said looking back over his shoulder and then at Emmy who was back to looking at DVDs. "I was going to say, you look great for a mom."

"Am I a MILF?" she asked playfully and Chris blushed as he grinned and muttered,

"You’re a mom I’d like to fuck." Emmy looked at him and his blush darkened as he gave a shake of his head signaling that he didn’t say anything and she went back to the DVDs as he sighed in relief. Emmy grabbed a movie and put it in. Chris shifted as he tried to ignore the heat in his cheeks when she sat back down beside him. He smiled at her awkwardly and she smiled back, looking at the television as the previews began to play. They sat in an awkward silence for a bit, well, it was awkward for Chris so he drummed his hands on his knees and then looked at Emmy. He opened his mouth to ask something then stopped and looked away.

"Do you work tomorrow?" he asked finally and Emmy shook her head.

"Addison has debate and-"

"Our cookout!" Chris exclaimed throwing a hand to his head as he looked at Emmy with a shocked expression. She smiled amused by his antics as he said, "I can’t believe I forgot! You have to text me and remind me in the morning to clean and go shopping." Emmy shook her head.

"Don’t worry about the cleaning, I didn’t clean today," she said and Chris relaxed as he looked around. It looked fine to him. "Be as messy as you want, but Addison will throw your underwear at you if you leave it out,” she warned and Chris laughed. She twisted on the couch when Addison came running in with a panicked look on her face.

"I forgot, I forgot!" she said throwing herself onto the couch and burying her face in Chris’s shoulder. "I’m sorry I just remembered, I never told you the paparazzi secret!" Chris grinned and tickled her side making her squeal and wiggled.

"You didn’t! You owe me a trick little miss!" he said tickling her as she rolled onto the couch and wiggled. Emmy scoots closer to her part of the couch as Chris twisted to better tickle Addison. He stopped tickling her when she threatened to pee.

"Don’t you dare pee on my couch!" Emmy laughed pointing at Addison who was just laying on her back on the couch recovering from the tickle attack. Chris chuckled and held his hands up as he said,

"I have no part in this! I’m innocent!" Addison pulled herself up and sat close to Chris as she said,

"Okay, okay here’s the secret. When you’re going somewhere you don’t want the rats to know about," he chuckled as she referred to the paparazzi as rats, "you wear the same clothes you wore the day before when they took pictures of you. If you wear the same clothes and they already have pictures of you in that outfit- they can’t publish the pictures they have the next day." Chris rose a brow and he looked at Emmy who shrugged a shoulder.

"Daniel Radcliffe supposedly did that for like a month and none of the paparazzi could print their pictures of him because time stamps and previous pictures and stuff," she explained and he looked back at Addison who was nodding with the most serious look on her face. He grinned and kissed her head making her smile bright and blush as he leaned back and pulled her onto his lap.

"That is fu- freaking awesome," he said catching himself making the girls giggle. Addison hugged Chris around his neck and he hugged her back tightly. Emmy smiled at the two of them and thought Chris would make a great father if he ever settled down.

The three of them watched a few movies. Some old 80s horror flicks that had really poor acting Addison ended up falling asleep in Chris’s lap and Emmy lightly brushed her hair with her fingers as they watched the beginning of Nightmare on Elm St.

Chris looked at Emmy and shyly took her hand earning her attention.

"I’m uh thanks," he said letting her hand go and smiling like an idiot. "The spaghetti was really good and I really like hanging out with you and Addison," he said and Emmy smiled. "I’ll take her to bed, I should probably head out," he said looking at the sleeping girl in his lap. Emmy nodded and stood as Chris slid his arms carefully under Addison and lifted her with ease. Emmy led the way down a small hall to a bright orange room with a large bed. She stood by the door as Chris carefully laid Addison down and covered her up. Emmy went in and kissed her head goodnight and walked Chris to the door.

"Thanks for coming over," she said as Chris pulled his shoes on.

"Don’t mention it. Do you want my number?" he asked remembering he wanted her to text him to remind him of their cookout. Emmy smiled.

"I have it from when you called," she said and Chris nodded and straightened as he pulled the door open.

"See you tomorrow then," he said with an unsure smile. He kind of wanted to hug her, or kiss her, or shake her hand, something but he wasn’t sure what just yet. He swayed a bit and went to leave when she leaned up and kissed his cheek. He blushed and smiled as a heat rolled over his body and his skin tingled where she kissed.

"Goodnight," Emmy said leaning on the door as he backed up into the hall. He waved a hand slightly, almost in a daze, as she shut and locked the door.

"Wow," he breathed touching his cheek and then grinned and hurrying to his car. He wanted to get to bed so tomorrow would come sooner.